Keeping my hand outstretched, I replied, “What’s the saying? La mia casa è la tua casa?” My house is your house.
Her glare only became sharper. “Not here. This is a Callahan house, now and forever. We neither share it or open it to anyone. So, your daughter has the right to command, but you do not. You are guest here, and therefore, you should act like a guest.”
I kept the smile on my face, clasping my hands as I looked her over.
“Evelyn,” I said gently. “I heard your church crashed down on top of you and you barely made it out alive. How sad. I am sorry such a terrible thing happened. But maybe you should take that as a sign from God that you are far too old and have been through far too much to have this fight with me. We can do this the easy way. You can shake my hand, smile, enjoy the food I had made, spoil your great-granddaughter, showing not to be an obstacle for me today, or you can insult me once more and we can go to war. I am very good at that. And I really want to know how many lives those old bones of yours have left.” I laughed to myself, lifting my hand to her once more. “Please make your
choice now so I know how to go about the rest of my morning.”
Her eyes narrowed on me, glaring a bit before taking my hand. “The quickest way for you and I to be at war is for you to mention my age.”
“Noted. It won’t happen again.” I nodded, and she didn’t seem to believe me. “At least not to your face.”
The corner of her lip turned up, but when she let go of my hand, she turned to Gigi, speaking in Italian, “Come with me, my precious girl.”
Gigi grinned, taking her hand and leaving with her. I watched them for a second as they walked by before everyone else came down. The first couple, Ethan’s Uncle Neal, wore a dark blue sweater and dark brown trousers, and his wife, Mina, wore a polka-dotted sweater and long skirt. Her black hair was in a bun. Neal looked over my shoulder at his mother and then to me.
“You caused a lot of trouble last night,” he said, looking me over.
“Did I?” I gasped, dismayed and innocent. “I would apologize, but sadly, I have no idea what you are talking about. But I’d love to hear more over raspberry jelly-filled sugar donuts. I heard those were your favorite. I made them for you myself.”
His gaze shifted over my shoulder to the table, a small grin appeared on his face when he saw it. His wife smacked his shoulder.
“Seriously? Are you so cheap?” she muttered, and he looked at her and then to me again when she spoke up. “She poisoned our children!”
“Yes, I did,” I replied without shame. “And before you say anything else, think long and hard about what you would have done if someone had your daughter and they tried to stop you from getting her back?”
Her pink lips made a fine line, so I went on. “Now remember, all I did was put her to sleep. Gracious in comparison to whatever you would have done, correct? So, let’s not harp on the past. It’s a new day, and the donuts are getting cold.”
Neal put his hand on her shoulders and pushed her forward. “Let’s go. Besides, Nari and Sedric wouldn’t be happy if you fought their battles for them.”
She glared as she walked past, but Neal gave me a small wink as if I was supposed to know what he meant by that.
Either way, it was clear that they all wanted to try to get a dig. And next up to the plate was Ethan’s Irish uncle, Declan, dressed in a dark moss-colored sweater over a white shirt, and his wife, Coraline, who simply wore gray sweater dress, her shoulder-length black hair in waves.
“Good morning, Calliope,” Coraline said, though she looked slightly annoyed with me, too.
Declan nodded as well before they moved to their seats, and I wished everyone else acted like them. It would speed up this damn process. Luckily, I didn’t have to greet anyone else as I knew it would take a few more minutes for the rest of them to get downstairs. The poison didn’t wear off that quickly. Grabbing one of the chairs, I lifted it and put it at the head of the table, pushing the head chair to the left a bit before taking my seat.
When I looked up to take my napkin, everyone in the room was staring at me as if I’d grown a second head all of a sudden.
“Yes?” No one said anything. Shrugging, I looked at my daughter. “Gigi, that’s enough, sit down,” I told her.
She’d personally gone around to say good morning to everyone. I pointed to the chair to the right of me for her to sit, and she started to come when all of a sudden, the door opened again.
“Papa! Buongiorno!” She bolted like a cheetah out of a cage, hugging his legs.
His green eyes focused on me briefly before he glanced down at her and lifted her. The ring was gone, as was his beard. I thought he’d put up a bit more a fight for the sake of our little show, but then again, Ethan would only play with me for so long before getting tired of it.
“Good morning, Giovanna. How are you?” he asked in Italian, gazing into her eyes. He offered her a small smile as he brushed a few strands of hair from her face.
She grinned so wide I thought she’d burst from joy, and she replied quickly, “Great! You want us to stay, Papa! I get to be with you all the time now! Mommy said we are picking my room and then going to get my clothes. Can my room be close to you, Papa, please?” she begged, but instead of putting her on her feet, he carried her to his chair, sitting her in his lap.
“The closest room to mine is being used as my private study, but we can move those things out and have your room there. As for clothes, don’t you want to have new clothes made for you—”
“Her old clothes are fine,” I said as he sat beside me.
He ignored me. “We’ll call the family tailor, and he’ll make you anything you want to wear. How about that?”